With the Elon Musk Twitter acquisition complete, the Chief Twit/Twitter Hotline Operator is set about monetizing the platform. Ads are a part of that, as is his leaked plan to increase the monthly charge for Twitter Blue to $8 (I’m betting the majority gripe, but pay it). In the words of a famous infomercial:
Twitter will also offer verification for $20 per month. This could represent a significant opportunity for challenger voices to gain a share of voice on the platform since Twitter’s algorithm tends to amplify verified voices.
Outside of monetizing the platform in a more efficient way, there are other ways for Musk to recoup his $44 Billion dollar investment. Elon’s other companies stand to benefit from superior targeting, customer insights, and the ability to build custom solutions for the unique needs of Tesla and SpaceX. Imagine automatically advertising to anyone that follows one of your rivals with comparison-specific creative. If these potential customers engage with those rivals’ content, Musk and his team of engineers should be able to flag those accounts as priorities for Tesla’s ads.
Also, imagine knowing how much your competitors are spending on ads and who they’re targeting, and then being able to outbid them for the same audience. I understand GM’s reluctance to reengage with the platform. This could be the social advertising equivalent of Amazon stealing your customer data and then marketing them knock off Amazon Basics products. Elon Musk’s arbitrage opportunities are significant, to say the least.
For marketing leaders not buying media spaceships and auto manufacturers, I’m excited about the opportunities on Twitter. I’m hoping to see better analytics and, at least in the short term, lower CPMs as Big Money presses the pause button on Twitter ads.
Are Twitter Ads in your Q4 strategy? Maybe they should be – Let’s talk about it.